Growing Your Community Outreach

When asking many breweries about how they develop their community relations, the word “organic” comes up almost every time. It’s not something that is shoehorned in right from the start. It usually began small and blossomed as the brewery grew and developed with the community around them.

But don’t put it on yourself, ask for the community’s input as well.

Mother Road‘s Evan Luthye said the Arizona brewery gets a significant number of requests from the community without soliciting. They have a form on our website to make donation requests.

“Many of our employees are involved in the community and bring causes they are passionate about to the donation committee as well,” Luthye said. “Word of mouth spreads pretty quickly in Flagstaff and many of our partners have advertising opportunities for their donors which brings more charities to the committee’s attention as well.”

Angel City‘s first nonprofit partner they started working with was Art Share LA.

“They’re right down the block from the brewery and given the brewery is a big supporter of the arts, it felt like a natural fit,” explained Keith McEly, the brewery’s marketing and events manager.

“Over the years, I think as a brand you learn more and more about what aligns with your values, who you are, and what interests your community at large, which begins to really inform how you choose what nonprofit partners to work with.”

Getting attention for your events is also paramount. McEly said social media is the biggest driver, but reaching out to the press is another way as well.

When Angel City teamed up with Surfrider to do ocean cleanups over the span of a couple of months, they had a press release to cover that.

“And we put up posters around the brewery. And try to let folks on tours know what we’re doing out in the world,” he added. “For a program to be successful, you really need to try to hit as many touchstones as possible.

“In this busy world, it’s so easy for everything to get lost in the noise, so it’s trying to connect with people where they’re at.”

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